This Morning
In London, FM Metal Bulletin reports “London Metal Exchange three-month base metals prices were somewhat subdued during morning trading on Monday December 2 while a strong US dollar index, trading up by 0.08% at 98.35 at the same time, had a dampening effect on trading volumes. This despite the release of better-than-expected data from China this morning that showed the country’s manufacturing sector was in expansionary territory in November. China’s Caixin purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 51.8 last month, up marginally from 51.7 previously.” LME 3-mo. copper and aluminum were recently trading around $5,870/mt and $1,770/mt, respectively, while 3-mo. nickel traded as low as $13,610/mt. In foreign exchange trading, the euro was holding up around $1.1023 this morning while the British pound was little changed around $1.293.